


The Lonely Son

by acaciapines



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Non-Linear Narrative, fanfic of a fanfic bc that's where i am in life i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:00:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25806253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acaciapines/pseuds/acaciapines
Summary: In the realm of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Liam spends his days warm and waiting for Ruby and Jet to hang out with him. He is not, after all, a member of the Rocks Family.(or, something is wrong, but Liam's not sure what.)
Relationships: Liam Wilhelmina Jawbreaker & Jet Rocks, Liam Wilhelmina Jawbreaker & Ruby Rocks
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	The Lonely Son

**Author's Note:**

  * For [piggy09](https://archiveofourown.org/users/piggy09/gifts).
  * Inspired by [candy-coated darling](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25674073) by [piggy09](https://archiveofourown.org/users/piggy09/pseuds/piggy09). 



> okay im not lying when i say this is fully fanfic of a fanfic this will not make sense if you dont real candy-coated darling first. and honestly why wouldn't you that fic is a work of art GO READ IT!!! 
> 
> ok with that said. if you read that you know what this is. i dont know man i spiraled what else can i say.

12.

“Something’s wrong,” Liam says, sprawled out in sweetgrass with his two best friends. Ruby is close enough he could reach out and poke her, like she sometimes is, and Jet is further out, not in Liam’s line of sight. Preston is snorting and snoring on his chest, and his breath smells of peppermint.

“What do you mean by that?” asks Ruby. She reaches out to brush her hand with his own.

“Dunno,” Liam shrugs. The grass tickles his arms. Off in the distance, he can hear Jet whooping—delighted, happy sounds. Preston snuffles and his little hooves press against Liam’s chin when he stretches, cool. The air is still and hanging above him, and Liam thinks if he were to reach out and grab it, it would snare in his fingers like cotton candy. “I haven’t been able to find any seeds in a while. Preston’s usually good at helping with that.”

“Well, you’re a seed guy,” Ruby says, and she sits up, staring off after her sister. Her movement jostles her locket, which falls in front of her chest, caught by its chain and righting itself. “You’ll find a seed soon enough.”

Liam shrugs, again. The grass leaves a sticky residue against his fingers.

23.

Jet is blazing beside him, grabbing his hand and tugging him away from the castle and into the endless open fields, pink grass as far as the eye can see. They are running, and through it all Jet is talking loudly at him.

“You have my locket!” she’s yelling, over the roar of the wind. “It looks good on you!”

“Thanks,” Liam says, and then, processing, his free hand reaching up to feel the bottom of the half-heart dig into his palm, “wait, what?”

Jet laughs, letting go of his hand to duck into a roll, coming out of it breathless and staring up at the sky. Liam fumbles after her, the grass grabbing at his feet and tripping him up along the way. Jet flips onto her stomach and takes one of Liam’s hands in both her own.

“It looks good on you,” she repeats.

The locket is a comforting weight around his neck, but Liam doesn’t look at it. He instead lets it hang there, lets the wind tug at it, knock against his chest, and he looks at Jet. “I’m worried,” he says. The concept curdles in him like churning butter. _Worry._ He doesn’t like the way it echoes.

“Don’t worry,” Jet says, and bumps her head to his. “You’ve got my locket. Me and Ruby aren’t gonna let you go _anywhere.”_

11.

Preston circles Liam, snuffling small pig-sounds, nose to the ground and ears alert.

“Tracking a seed?” Liam asks, bending down to scratch Preston between the ears. He smells of sharp peppermint, and pauses his sniffling to peer up at Liam. His dark eyes meet Liam’s own, for a moment.

But then Preston’s shaking himself, snorting, and he resumes his sniffing, around and around and around.

2.

Ruby is the one to introduce him to her aunts.

Well, introduce isn’t much of the right word. When Ruby grabs his hand and follows after Jet, she’s tensed up just like he is. More so, Liam thinks—Ruby has thousands of stories that he doesn’t, great sprawling things about the grandness of her aunts. All Liam’s got is a small handful of things he’s heard, mostly from Ruby or Jet, and the knowledge that he’s _probably_ remembering their names right. He doesn’t know that he’ll be able to put a face to each name, but he’s got Ruby to do that for him—she’s the one who’s gonna want to talk to them first.

“…and aunt Rococoa is _so cool!”_ Jet says, turning to face them as they walk. “Seriously, Ruby, you’re gonna love them and they’re gonna love you!”

“I know,” Ruby says, but there’s something hesitant in her voice. Jet tilts her head and then grins, darting in all playful to try and jab her sister in the nose. Ruby ducks, letting go of Liam’s hand in the process. “Hey—Jet—seriously, you don’t—stop that!” But her protests are joyous and when she charges down the path after Jet, she’s laughing.

Liam watches the two of them disappear. He doesn’t mind lingering. He’s got Preston back to trot at his side, the click of his hooves against ground as familiar to Liam as his own footsteps.

14.

Lazuli paces the castle, big circles through its hallways, her fruit-leather journal hovering just in front of her, as she flips between the same seven pages. Saccharina slams her fists against the sky again and again; it flakes down in chips of blue raspberry.

Liam sits next to Ruby, and Preston chases his tail in front of them, blue shards stuck to his skin like hail.

9.

“…Liam!” Jet is saying, in twinspeak, and Liam drags his gaze away from the sky and turns to his friend. She looks exasperated but fondly so. “I was asking you, do—”

But up the hill comes Saccharina, and whatever Jet was going to ask him is dropped as the twins scamper up to her, practically tripping over each other in a race to get to her first. They are loud and talking over each other, Jet saying, _where were you, we missed you, it’s boring without you!_ while Ruby’s saying _you’re interesting, do you have something planned?_ Their words are bright and happy and entirely in Candian.

Liam watches them disappear into the distance, listens to their laughter as it echoes over the fields.

16.

Liam knows loneliness.

He wanders the halls of the castle, and through the open windows he can hear the shrieks of sisterly battles, old paths taken again and again, familiar arguments on loop.

The sun fragments through the windows, sending long shadows spilling over Liam, but despite them he can still feel its warmth.

7.

Preston is pawing at the doors to the library. Preston is pawing at the floor with his hooves. Preston is growling and Preston is throwing himself at the closed doors, and Liam is grabbing him, saying _Preston, Preston, Preston—_

3.

All around him are books in shelves that go up to the ceiling, a ceiling so high Liam can hardly see the top of it. He’s got his head craned back and his mouth gaping and he can hear Lapin laughing at him.

“The Archmage Lazuli and I know this place the best,” Lapin says. Liam snaps his mouth shut and gives himself a shake, setting a squirming Preston down. The pig launches for Lapin, bounding one-two into the air, dancing circles around the rabbit’s head. “As far as we’ve found, there’s no end to it.” He nudges Preston out of the way, approaches Liam. When he puts a hand on Liam’s shoulder, there’s a solid weight to it.

“Wow,” Liam says. “I didn’t know there were this many books in the world.”

“It’s rather nice, isn’t it?” Lapin says, grabbing a book off the nearest shelf and holding it out for Liam. The cover of it is one Liam knows down to his bones.

****

24.

Jet is smiling at him as she pulls back, dropping his hands and rolling to her side, stretching like a cat as she gets to her feet.

“It’s.” Liam grabs at the locket, pulling it over his head. Jet watches him with a tilted head and curiosity sparking in her dark eyes. “It’s not…”

They are doing something stupid. He holds the locket out to her, and she pushes his hands away.

“Ruby gave that to you,” she says. She is still smiling, but her eyes are locked on his.

“It’s _yours.”_ Liam says. He’s not sure how it came to be around his neck—the lockets are a Ruby-and-Jet things, the lockets are theirs and he is not them, the locket is supposed to _help_ her, the locket is cold against his palms, a biting cold, even when the air all around them is warm.

“Liam,” Jet says. She closes his hands around the locket, and nods, once. “I trust Ruby. I trust _you._ ”

Liam doesn’t move. Jet’s hand is warm against his. When he looks at the locket, it reflects the sky, blue and endless and up and up and up.

4.

Liam holds the seed in his hand, spun-sugar so closely packed it’s a solid object. It’s colorful, too, a sparkling white base that’s swirled throughout with threads of other colors, pinks and greens and reds and blacks, meeting in some places, more a blob of color, before separating out against into their delicate, individual strands. Liam holds it out for Preston, who sniffs at it, and almost goes to try and eat it before Liam pulls it away in time.

“I thought I should’ve grabbed this,” says Lapin. Liam jumps nearly a foot in the air with an aborted shout, the seed dropping to the ground. Lapin is laughing and Liam can’t hold his scowl for more than a second.

Lapin passes Liam his seed book after Liam’s received the seed. Preston is too busy prancing around the rabbit to bother trying to steal, squealing happily.

“You have to stop doing that,” Liam says, but there’s a smile at his lips, and he’s already balancing the seed book against his side, trying to flip to the next empty page. “How’d you know I was up here? And that I’d need this?” He gives his book a shake, and then yelps when it almost tumbles out of his hands.

Preston headbutts Lapin’s legs. Lapin pats him, once, between the ears, and then says, “lucky guess. And I was getting lonely in the library—you are the only one who visits me regularly.”

“Oops.” Liam scowls, trying to get the sugar seed properly positioned onto its page. “I’m usually waiting around for Ruby and Jet, I really try not to miss them.”

“Well, come say hi, when you can. I do not think…” Lapin trails off, frowning. Preston continues to butt at him for attention. “Hmm. You could invite the twins down there. Tell them I promise not to lecture at them.”

Liam laughs. “Ha, maybe. They probably won’t knock too many books down.”

“Consider it,” Lapin says. He begins to walk off, pausing for a second. “Really, though, consider it, young Liam. I’m sure they’d get a kick out of trying to get into trouble without me catching them, at the very least. I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah,” Liam says, finally managing to press the seed into the page, “you too.”

22.

Lazuli finds them in the library, in the remains of their attempts to climb the shelves. Ruby made it highest, Liam nabbed a decent second-place for himself, and Jet’s gearing up for another go at it, to beat the both of them. Books litter the ground around them, shoved to the sides so they don’t step on any of them, not that it does much for the pages that bent and tore when they fell.

It’s Liam who notices Lazuli first, poking at Ruby to alert her. She peers at him, and Liam points towards Lazuli, and Ruby’s eyes go wide when she realizes. “Oh,” she says, “oh!” And she grabs Jet’s hand before she can climb the shelves again. “Hi, Aunt Lazuli.” She sounds a bit sheepish, and Liam tries to inch his way in front of the fallen books.

“I’m glad I found you,” Lazuli says. She doesn’t really sound like she’s scolding them, but there’s a tenseness to her voice. Liam glances over to Ruby, the question obvious in her eyes: _is this about what we overheard?_ “We don’t—there’s not much time. This would be much easier if we had some sort of distraction, but no. We’re all up in the throne room, discussing, and you should sit in and listen.”

Lazuli turns and heads back upstairs. Ruby is the first of them to break out of her stupor and run after her, but while she goes, Liam hesitates, looking over to Jet. _A distraction?_

Jet’s frowning. The expression is odd on her face. “What does Aunt Lazuli need a distraction for?”

Liam opens his mouth to offer up a guess, but comes up blank. He’s got no idea. What he instead says is, “If Ruby’s going to learn what it's about, she’ll probably just tell us afterwards.”

“She will,” Jet agrees. “Liam…” she takes a breath. “I think…”

She doesn’t need to finish her sentence. Liam already knows.

When the two of them leave the library, they do not go to the throne room.

13.

The air is warm and heavy where is settles on Liam’s chest. Preston is shifting, constant little motions, but Liam watches Ruby through the occasional eyeful of red-and-white peppermint fur. She’s got one hand fisted in the grass. The other is tracing the corner of her locker.

There is a commotion from over the ridge. Ruby straightens, and then stands fully.

“Ruby?” asks Liam. The air is thick and his hand weakly tries to push through the blanket of it, to reach for her.

“I’ll be back,” she says, and then she’s running, away away away.

17.

The sky is vibrant blue, blue so bright it burns at his eyes, and he pets the grass in repetitive, itching strokes.

He is alone.

20.

“Aunt Lazuli says something is wrong,” Ruby tells him, voice hushed, the two of them huddled in the shadows of the castle. “I overheard her telling it to Aunt Rococoa, and I think Mom was there too, but I don’t know, we were playing tag with Saccharina and I couldn’t stay long.”

“Oh.” Liam says. _Something is wrong._ The words poke at his mind. “I think we should have this conversation somewhere else.”

Ruby tilts her head. “Maybe. I should go get Jet, if we’re doing that. And Saccharina too. She’s my sister.”

“Just Jet.” Liam jerks forwards with a suddenness that startles even him, grabbing Ruby’s hand. She startles, taking a half-step back. “Just—please. Just Jet. We can meet in the library. I’m the only one who’s ever there, especially if your aunt is talking about something like you said.”

“Are you okay?” Ruby asks. She’s squinting at him.

Liam is already dropping her hand, letting her go. His head pounds and he wants to tell her _I’m worried,_ wants to tell her _I’m scared,_ but he’s not sure how to put words to these concepts: they are vague and when he tries to speak them, they fade away like a dream. They aren’t tangible things, but floating ones.

“The library,” he tells her.

And Ruby nods, and

6.

When Liam heads down to the library, Preston trotting in front of him with his ears perked, he’s got a name on his tongue that vanishes when he pushes open the doors.

The library is empty, dust swirling in the sunlight that comes through the giant stained-glass windows that line the sides. There’s one large table before the bookshelves, and on it someone’s left breakfa—lunc—dinner? Someone’s left a meal for him: a plate of sugar, and a smaller saucer for Preston.

Liam pauses in the door. He’s looking for Lazuli, right? She’s the only one he’d likely find in the library, though they’re not entirely close, so he’s not sure why she’d leave food for him…

Preston goes charging down the shelves, and Liam shrugs, heading for the table. It’s not like he has anything better to do, after all. Ruby and Jet are out with Saccharina—he’s got to entertain himself until they come back.

15.

There is laughter, today. There is often laughter. Liam is okay listening—he is always listening. He is watching his best friends play, needling their sister to join in with them. Jet is grinning, bright-eyed, leaning heavily into Saccharina’s side, Ruby is resting her arms atop Saccharina’s head, hands waving as she speaks, eager.

Liam crunches down his forkful of sugar, offers what’s left to Preston, nudging the plate over to him. His pig sniffs at the food, looks up at Liam with wide eyes. He snuffles, stands to his feet, and steps off the blanket, hooves leaving deep marks in the grass.

25.

The Sugar Plum Fairy is towering and static, many-faces that all shift and blur into each other like fragments of glass, forever refracting. She hurts to look at, and Liam struggles under the weight of her.

21.

In the shadows of the library the three of them reconvene, Ruby leading Jet, and it is in those dark corners that they curl into, playing games of hiding and secrets. They whisper to each other, trail their fingers down the dusty covers of books, wonder at what Lazuli and the others might be talking about—what this _wrongness_ is.

“They’d tell us,” Jet says, “if it was important, I mean. You know they would! So it’s probably something small.”

“Aunt Lazuli sounded _really_ worried,” Ruby says, unsure. “And…oh, I don’t know. Liam, you agree with me, right? You’re worried too?”

“Yes,” Liam says, but he shrugs as he says it. Is he worried? He’s not sure. _Worried_ is a cloud he cannot touch, he can only feel it slipping through his fingers.

“They’d tell us,” Jet repeats, and spins around to face them, face set. “And anyways, if we were going to listen in we should’ve done that, and not come down here, so we might as well not get all twisted up about it. What’s that ever accomplished?” She bounces back around, stomps right up to the nearest bookshelf. “Ruby, I dare you to climb this!”

“The shelf?” Ruby asks, and Jet nods, clapping her hands together.

“Yeah! I bet if any of us can, it’s gonna be you, and these things look _really_ high. You can tell us how far up they go!”

“I…okay. Okay!” Ruby straightens up, hurrying to join Jet. She considers the bookshelf, and then begins to climb, grabbing one of the high shelves and starting to haul herself up.

“I think Lapin might get mad if we do that!” Liam warns, joining Jet at the base of the shelf. Ruby’s already scurrying her way up, higher and higher, almost double her height now. Jet cheers her on, yelling mostly useless directions.

“Who?” Ruby asks. She pauses to peer down at him.

(There is someone who should be here—there is someone who was here—there is worry and there are people Liam knows at the tip of his tongue, there are—)

Liam crinkles his nose. “Nobody, nevermind,” he says, because only Lazuli would come down here, and she is nowhere near them. “Here, I’ll help catch you if you fall.”

Ruby giggles and continues her way up. Jet bumps her shoulder to Liam’s, and yells, “when you come down, you should try a backflip!”

18.

There is nothing but the sky and the field and the grass beaten down where Liam has walked before.

26.

But Jet is solid at his back, her hand in his, pinkies linked. She is tensed and she is moved her hand down to her belt—to her sword—to her—

The locket is glinting in the light of the Sugar Plum Fairy, and Liam’s hand closes around the handle of his crossbow. It’s a bow he’s pretty sure he didn’t have before, but when he levels it in front of him, he knows how to load it with arrows, and he knows how to aim is right between four of the Sugar Plum Fairy’s eyes.

THAT’S NOT VERY SWEET OF YOU, she says, and Liam fires.

5.

There are clouds in the sky, pale puffy things, cotton candy spun together and thrown up to settle in the air, so close together Liam could snag them.

“That’s new,” Ruby says, and pauses, frowning. “You know…”

“Yeah?” Liam asks, but Ruby doesn’t answer him. That’s okay. They’ve got all the time in the world, after all, and the day is lazy, and Liam is halfway to closing his eyes. When he yawns, it is echoed by Jet, who huffs and meet’s Liam’s eyes over Ruby between them, sticking out her tongue. Liam returns the gesture, impossibly childish, light as the clouds.

1.

Under a blue blue sky, hanging back in the shadow of Theo, who is already drawing away from him, saying something, greeting someone, Preston is leaping into Liam’s arms. But even as Liam catches him, whispers _hellos_ and _I’ve missed yous,_ he is not looking at Preston.

Ruby is colliding with Jet, and they are wrapped so tight around each other, twining together like braids, and they are crying, and laughing, and Liam is filled with such sweet joy.

8.

Liam grabs for scraps, for anything, for Preston’s squealing and the last dredges of a

(a voice? A voice? There were words, there were important ideas, there was—there was—libraries, and a chocolate rabbit, and—)

voice that rings in the back of his head, wordless, meaningless sounds that are sharp when Liam hears them. He thinks Preston is in his arms. He thinks

(Preston is crying for someone, Preston has been following someone with delight, been getting secret ear-scratches and affection, been dozing on pillow while a rabbit—)

19.

Liam blinks.

Sky. Blue. A cloud drifts by, and Liam is comfortable and warm. He is alone, like he so often is.

“Oh, hey, Liam!” Jet calls, somewhere further off. “I’m busy but I’ll talk to you later _promise!”_

“Okay,” Liam answers. Jet doesn’t have to hear it. He has, after all, an infinite amount of time to wait for her.

27.

The Sugar Plum Fairy has razor sharp wings.

He is knocked back by a blast of lavender magic and they catch him, cut into his chest, and he screams something that might be _Jet_ and might be _Ruby_ and is little more than a mangled approximation of them both.

He hurts, and hurts, and hurts—

(and the locket is red red red, redder and thicker than it should be, dripping onto his shirt, and the parts that aren’t are reflecting, always, the sky that goes on forever, the sky that crushes and crushes and—)

The Sugar Plum fairy is saying, I DO NOT THINK YOU ARE EVEN TRYING TO BE SWEET.

The last thing Liam tries to scream dies in this throat—

(the world is nothing but sky)

10.

Liam leans back against Preston. The sun is warm in his face. The air is a gentle blanket. Preston’s nose is twitching in his sleep as he dreams.

There is a locket around Liam’s neck. Liam takes it in his hands as Preston yawns, turns it over, pressing the sharp end of it into the flesh of his palm. It catches the light as Liam flips it in the sun.

Far-off, he can hear shouts, Ruby and Jet and their sister, laughter bubbling up and echoing far throughout the fields that stretch on endlessly around the castle. He cannot see them; they are not silhouetted against the blue sky.

He drops the locket and lets it bump into his chest. Shifts in his spot as if he’s going to stand.

But he’s warm and the air is heavy.

As the laughter fades, he pets circles into Preston’s fur, the same motion repeated thousandfold.

**Author's Note:**

> YEAH SO CANDY COATED DARLING HUH. WELCOME TO MY ONE PERSON FANDOM FOR THAT FIC. this fic DOES take place during that one, i think you should be able to figure out the specific sections. 
> 
> truly could NOT get it out of my head the first time i read it...bc like!! come on!!! of course i had to know what happened to liam!! out of all the non-rocks family characters i think he's in the most interesting place, because in this like...weird afterlife, where saccharina is the one who kinda dictated how it would be, he's got...kinda no reason to be here? but then he also has the /most/ reason to be here out of the rest of the non-rocks: he's best friends with the twins and that makes him harder to just, get rid of, u know? like saccharina didnt know lapin, who's gonna notice if he's gone? but liam??? who's been with the twins from the start of the campaign?? who has JET'S LOCKET??? but this is still a bad end au tho so like. bye bye liam!!!! 
> 
> i've also never written non-linearly before this and it probably shows!! this was a fun little fic to write though...i can't say i'll make a habit of writing non-linear stuff but it is a really interesting way to write stories. think i prefer reading it tho. 
> 
> the title is vaguely taken from the song im not the lonely son (im the ghost) by electric president. it played when i was writing this and i kinda shrugged like 'yeah that works well enough.' if you try hard enough there's probably a better justification in there for it to be a liam song but i do not care to do that. im not at that point yet. 
> 
> anyways that's all for now gang. know that if you leave a comment i WILL talk about all my notes i had for this fic BC I DID HAVE THOSE. TOO MANY FOR A FIC THAT'S BARELY 4K. so i guess if you want all the meta for this fanfic of a fanfic....u are in luck bc i fucking have it.


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